First Abu Dhabi Bank

Five years after China launched its Belt and Road Initiative, its ambitions in the Middle East and Africa are beginning to go beyond infrastructure and oil.

ICBC

HSBC

Addis-Djibouti Electric Railway Line (Export-Import Bank of China)

Bank Misr

Standard Chartered

Partnership could replace broken Barclays links; follows rumours of sale of Société Générale South Africa custody unit to Absa.

Delusional clients are complicating the business of collecting fees for advising on mega trades for customers such as Saudi Aramco and Tesla.

Saad Azhari has quietly ushered in a new era at Blom Bank. The outwardly conservative firm has embraced technology and pulled off a transformative acquisition for its wholesale business. But prudence remains the watchword in such a tempestuous market.

The African sovereign is one of the more impressive movers in Euromoney’s country risk survey this year, extending a longer-term upward trend that could see its credit rating upgraded – if it avoids political instability.

Inclusion in the emerging market index is recognition of the country’s reforms and could bring $50 billion of foreign investment.

Less onerous regulatory requirements and the proximity to markets where retail FX is prohibited continue to encourage brokers to set up shop in the Middle East, despite ongoing state protection for the Saudi Arabian currency.

Europe may not be enough after Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran deal.

Euromoney investigates how the relaxation of western sanctions on Iran – dubbed the world’s most lucrative closed economy – will jump-start trade and capital flows from Europe to the Gulf, and plots a vision for the country's banking system and economic transformation, more generally.

Euromoney's latest coverage of the bond markets in Africa.

Angola, which has recently emerged from civil war, is in the process of building its own identity. A systematic drive towards diversification of the economy away from the oil sector and the process of de-dollarization are pivotal parts of this process. How are banks, the government and locals coping as this transformation takes hold?